Wife Abuse, Husband Abuse, or Mutual Combat? A Feminist Perspective on the Empirical Findings (From Feminist Perspectives on Wife Abuse, 1988, P 90-113, Kersti Yllo and Michele Bograd, eds. -- See NCJ 142227)

• NCJ Number: 142231
• Author(s): D G Saunders
• Date Published: 1988
• Length: 24 pages
• Sale Source: Sage Publications, Inc
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

The proportion of times that battered women report their use of violence as "defensive," retaliatory," or "first strike" was explored in the context of a feminist perspective.

Abstract

It was hypothesized that most of the violence of battered women would be a self-defense response. Another question examined was whether the women would distinguish self- defensive violence from violence labeled "fighting back." About 75 percent of the sample of 52 battered women who participated in the study engaged in some form of nonsevere violence. Two of the categories identified as severe violence were engaged in by 50 percent to 60 percent of the women. About 8 percent of the women acknowledged "beating up" their partners or using a knife or a gun. About 40 percent of those who used severe violence indicated that this violence was in self-defense. Another one-third of the women reported all of their severe violence to be "fighting back." The study findings reinforce the contention that marital violence events need to be studied in context. 4 tables and 56 references